1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains generally to the art of apparatuses to assist human infants to learn to walk upright, and more particularly to safety devices used with baby walkers to prevent the baby walker from falling down stairs or down inclines.
2. Description of the Related Art
Baby walkers are devices that allow babies that are not yet able to walk to move about in an upright position using their legs. The baby sits in a seat that has holes for the legs of the baby. The seat is mounted onto a frame with wheels. The baby can move the walker by moving its legs along the floor. The baby, supported by the seat and wheels of the frame, is able to move about without having to balance.
Baby walkers have consisted of a seat to support the baby, a frame, and wheels to help babies move around as if they were walking. Typically, there were no safety features to prevent a baby from walking the walker down a flight of stairs or down an inclined plane or to alert parents of a potentially dangerous situation.
As such, a need has arisen to provide a safety device to prevent a baby from walking a baby walker down stairs or an inclined plane. In addition, applicant recognized the need for a warning alarm to alert parents to the danger of a baby in a baby walker perilously close to a flight of stairs.
One particular known type of safety device for use with baby walkers contemplates the use of dual wheel unit that always faces toward the direction of motion. When the walker is walked to a ledge, the main wheel will be suspended over the edge, and an auxiliary wheel is prevented from moving in the direction of the ledge by a lock plate. The device does not activate until the main wheel of the baby walker is already over the edge. Also, the wheels, being made of a hard material, may still slide along a smooth floor surface, thus rendering the braking system ineffectual. Finally, the device may prove difficult for the baby to get the suspended main wheel back from over the edge.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved baby walker safety device which is simple in design, effective in use, and overcomes the foregoing difficulties and others while providing better and more advantageous overall results.